He has played for Waikato and Otago in the ITM Cup and Tasman union's chief executive Tony Lewis admitted his players urged them to sign him.

"The Makos players at the Highlanders became aware that he was looking for somewhere new and they spoke volumes about his character, [coaches] Leon [MacDonald] and KK [Kieran Keane] did their homework on him and in the end, we approached his agent," Lewis revealed to stuff.co.nz.

"So it's probably fair to say it was player-driven, mainly by [Tasman captain] Shane Christie but supported by Joey Wheeler and all our boys at the Highlanders.

"From a Tasman perspective, he's a player that suits our style of football. When I came into the job, Kieran said we had to add depth to the squad. I think we did that last year and I think Trent's just building on that depth."